The present invention relates generally to network communications, and more particularly, but not exclusively, to a system and method for employing a unified multi-modal data store for initiating multi-modal communications over a network.
In today's technological society there are a myriad of mechanisms available to allow an individual to communicate with another individual—that is aside from a ‘face to face.’ Such mechanisms include, for example, synchronous communications such as Instant Messaging (IM), remote desktop, Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP), videoconferencing, Short Messaging Service (SMS), and the like. Examples of asynchronous mechanisms include email, wikis, blogs, Really Simple Syndication (RSS), and so forth.
The problem with having so many different mechanisms to communicate with another individual is that it may sometimes be different to determine which mechanism to use for a given individual. For example, does the other individual even use email, VOIP, or IM? Moreover, having so many mechanisms may also make it difficult to find which mechanism has information about the other individual so as to be able to initiate a communications. Thus, it is with respect to these considerations and others that the present invention has been made.